Talk:Incorporating Problem Based Learning Using the Scientific Method

instructor comments on your design project -- Jz833665 09:07, 4 May 2011 (EDT)

Hi April, I'm pleased to see the progress you have made in this project. The topic is interesting and informative, and the mini-course you're creating looks solid and rich. You may want to better address the following issues in the final phase:

1) Your current portfolio page is actually your mini-course's front page that the end users will start with. You need to rename this page (using the "Move" tab on the top) using your course title, and create a new page for your design project portfolio, in which you will document your design thinking and process, in your backstage.

2) Although your portfolio is yet to be created to document your instructional design processes, I assume you must have gone through these processes (informally, partially) that have led to the creation of your current mini-course. You need to update your portfolio soon. 3) The lack of more comprehensive instructional analyses (e.g., objectives and task analysis) does have caused some weaknesses in your mini-course. Among these, you need particularly to better focus your course (i.e. objectives) and create an more coherent instructional sequence. As I understand, your focus is on incorporating scientific methods in PBL. Imagining that I'm going through the task analysis process, I think that to understand the above overarching concept, the learners first need to understand PBL: what it is, why important, etc. This will prepare them to study the core topic of incorporating scientific methods in PBL: what scientific methods are, how these are used in PBL for mutual benefit, and how a teacher can specifically design lessons and provide support, etc. I'm just providing you here a possible way to build a progressive chain of the learning objectives that successively build on one another. This chain is not so clear and coherent in your current version. For example, you cover many general issues of PBL with less attention given to your focal topic of scientific methods, which was burred in your unit 2 that focus on steps of PBL. I would make unit 2 specifically address using scientific methods in PBL, as the unit title suggests, and use unit 3 to elaborate on the details.

4) Engaging learners' thinking: Instead of providing definitions and descriptions first and examples later, I'd suggest that you think about moving one the examples to the very beginning of the mini-course, to analyze contextualize and engage learners' thinking, and to revisit such example in a later unit after they have learned the principles. This is something we did in ETAP 623, beginning the whole course with case studies of various instructional design projects and products, and then revisiting these in later part of the course.

5) Use consistent terms: Your title says "project-based" and the units talk about "problem-based". You don't have to involve yourself (and the learners) in differentiating these terms, but need to be consistent.

-- Laura Kraebel 20:56, 5 May 2011 (EDT)

April, Your course looks very interesting and I can tell you have put a lot of work into it. I had trouble finding your portfolio page. I am not sure where it is so I could not look at all of the design elements that you put into the portfolio. I thought the sequencing of your units was excellent. You are helping your students to build knowledge in a very logical way. I think it would be nice to have some other type of resource for your students to look at like a scholarly article or informational video. This would help with learner engagement. Nice work overall and good luck.

Laura Kraebel

-- Maria Urquidi 23:06, 5 May 2011 (EDT)

Hi April - Nice work. I assume you will be adding Unit Objectives. My suggestions would be to add more variety (i.e. multimedia) and activities, though I know from working on a similar topic that that can be difficult.